The Pastor's Daughter

Chapter Seven

"You're the first boy I've ever kissed," she said to me. It was a few days before the new year, and Hayley and I were standing at the shark rock pier in Hobie beach.

"I figured I might've been." I said.

"Why?" she asked innocently. "Did I do it wrong?"

"You're a great kisser," I said, giving her a hand squeeze. She nodded and turned towards the ocean, her eyes getting that far-off look again. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

"Are you okay,Hayley?" I asked.

Instead of answering, she changed the subject.

"Have you ever fallen inlove?" she asked me

"You mean before now?"

I said it the way Siya told  me to say if a girl ever asked me that question. Siya was pretty slick with girls.

"I'm serious, Ryan." she said, tossing me a side long glance. I guess Hayley had seen those movies too. With Hayley, I'd come to realise, I always seemed to be going from high to low and back high again in less time than it takes to squash a mosquito. I wasn't quite sure if I liked that part of out relationship yet, though to be honest, it kept me on my toes. I was still feeling off balance as I thought about her question.

"I actually have," I said finally.

Her eyes were fixed on the ocean. I think she thought I was talking about Zinzi, but looking back, I'd realised what I felt for Zinzi was totally different from what I was feeling at that moment.

"How did you know it was love?" She asked me.

I watched the breeze gently moving her hair, and I knew it was no time to pretend I was something I actually wasn't. 

"Well," I said seriously, "You know it's love when all you want to do is spend time with the other person feels the same way."

Hayley thought about my response before smiling faintly.

" I see," she said softly.

I waited for her to add something else, but she didn't, and I came to another sudden realisation. Hayley may not have been all that experienced with boys, but to tell you the truth, she was playing me like a harp. During the next two days, for instance, she wore her hair in a bun again. On New Year's eve I took Hayley out to dinner. It was the very first real date she'd ever been on, and we went to a small waterfront restaurant in Humewood called Angelo's. Angelo's was the kind of restaurant with tablecloths and candles and five different pieces of silverware per setting. The waiters wore black and white, like butlers, and when you looked out of the giant windows that completely lined the walls, you could watch the moonlight reflecting off the slowly moving water. There was a pianist and a singer too - not every night, but on holidays when they thought the place would be full. It was actually my mom's idea to take Hayley out some place special. A couple of days before hand, on one of those days Hayley was wearing her hair in a bun, I talked to my mom about the things I was going through.

"She's all I think about, Ma" I confessed. "I mean, I know she likes me, but I don't know if she feels the same way I do."

"Well, what have you tried so far?" she said.

"What do you mean?"

My mom smiled. "I mean young girls, even Hayley, likes to be made to feel special."

I thought about that for a moment, a little confused. Wasn't that what I was trying to do?

"Well, I've been going to her house everyday to visit," I said. My mom put her hand on my knee. Even though she wasn't a great house maker and sometimes stuck it to me, like I said in the beginning, she was  a really sweet lady.